Friday letters: Messaging matters, Katy controversy, riding bikes

A man looks over AR-15 style rifles in the exhibition area during the National Rifle Association annual convention in Dallas. About 75,000 NRA members gathered for their annual convention. They attended gun shows, concerts, workshops and political speeches, including ones by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Photo: ASHLEY GILBERTSON, STR / NYT

Just plain politics

Regarding “NRA recasts Texas tragedy” (Page A1, May 6), I would like to cry “foul!” over the reporter’s inclusion of remarks made by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to reporters at the NRA Convention. The reporter writes, “Cruz said that, in the days after the church killings, families of the dead and wounded pleaded with him personally to not let what happened result in them losing their guns.”

Really? So, distraught relatives of the victims, some of whom were present to witness the carnage, were laser-focused on the potential longer-term political fallout of the tragedy in its immediate aftermath? Cruz knows good and well that no journalist is going to truth-check this statement by interviewing the victims’ family members for obvious reasons. So, his nauseating embellishment goes to print. Shame on Cruz. And shame the reporter for giving Cruz a free pass to show the NRA what a good soldier he is! I’m sure the check is in the mail.

Laura Shepard, Houston

Messaging matters

Regarding “First lady debuts campaign for kids’ well-being” (Page A7, Tuesday), I respect Melania Trump and appreciate her efforts to help children and be a positive influence on the White House. However, it did not help for Attorney General Sessions to undercut her efforts by announcing within hours of her speech the administration’s reinforcing of its policy separating immigrant children from their parents.

It would be helpful if the administration would at least be consistent in its messaging.

Ron Curtis, Houston

Katy controversy

Regarding “In Katy, the answer to bullying allegations isn’t more bullying” (Page A3, Wednesday), as usual Lisa Falkenberg hits the nail on the head, but she doesn’t go far enough. If the Katy Independent School District school board wants to open up a legal can of worms at taxpayer expense, I say, bring it on. Enough people are sympathetic to Greg Gay’s position that I bet we can help him hire a first-class attorney to counter sue every member of the school board and the superintendent.

Bullying is not, as some think, the result of a personality disorder. Nor is it responsive to bigger, more powerful bullying. Bullying is learned behavior. It is impossible to have effective anti-bullying programs when many parents, teachers and administrators continue to model that behavior for students.

KISD is about to open up a can of worms. The only way to fight bullying is with solidarity!

Susan Jackson, Houston

Bike responsibility

Regarding “Cyclists are dying because Houston lacks culture of safety” (Page A31, May 6) I have never seen a bicyclist stop for a stop sign. At a four-way stop in my neighborhood, I came very close to hitting a lady on her bike. I came to a stop and was starting a left turn when she ignored her stop sign. If I hadn't hit my brakes, I would have hit her.

Bicyclists have a responsibility for their own safety as well.

Doyle Reynolds, Missouri City

Equifax breach

Regarding “How bad was the breach? Equifax supplies the numbers” (Page B2, Thursday), last year's Equifax breach allowed the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers for 146 million people to fall into the hands of some unscrupulous actors. The infomation lost can be used to steal the identify of these people for the rest of their lives.

Equifax should provide free lifetime credit monitoring for these people. After all, Equifax created this burden that 146 million people now need to carry for the rest of their lives.

Ted McWilliams, Tomball

Wasted resources

Regarding “The ethanol mandate is a failed experiment” (Page A13, Thursday), J. Winston Porter’s op-ed about the ethanol mandate is absolutely on the mark. We need to get ethanol out of gasoline. The failed experiment is a gross misallocation of resources with no benefit to the use of gasoline and a serious distortion of grain prices.